Business View Caribbean | August 2022

42 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 8 now in Curacao. There is a great deal of interest from people from abroad to buy houses, to buy buildings, in both areas of our downtown. They like our culture and our history in those areas and there is a lot of potential there. So in that sense, Curacao offers a great opportunity for buying a house or building a house or a business. “As Minister, I am also responsible for the Curacao Tourism Board. With the comparison of 2019, I would have to say that tourism was growing then and today we are almost at 98 percent of the numbers in 2019. It is on a trend to keep growing and we have now entered the tourism market in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Colombia. Currently, our biggest market is in Europe, mainly from Holland and a bit from Germany and we want to maintain that, but, still, with the beautiful brand-new Sandals resort hotel in Curacao, we want to develop the Curacao tourism industry in the States, Canada, Brazil, and Colombia markets.” BVC: What would you like to achieve with regard to economic development in Curacao over the next three to five years? Minister Cijntje: “Right now, we are aware of the climate change that is going on in the world. We are trying to be more resilient and improve in the area of renewable energy. I also want to see that, as an island, we are more developed in the tourism industry, and the innovation sector, and in agriculture. I believe that is the way to go, to seek new economic pillars on the island.”